Georgia, September 29: A GROUP of sex offenders have been sent to live in the woods after being freed from prison.
The group of nine men were asked to live in the woods in Georgia, in the US south, after failing to find housing far enough away from schools and playgrounds, the Associated Press reports.
William Hawkins, who was directed to the make-shift camp by a probation officer two weeks after his release from prison, said the living situation was unusual.
“It’s kind of like a mind-game, it’s like Survivor,” the 34-year-old said.
Another man, 52-year-old Levertice Johnson, said his probation officer didn’t know where else he could go.
“Even the probation officer, he looked at me and said there’s nothing he can do,” Mr Johnson said.
“He knows it’s wrong.”
Ahmed Holt, the manager of Georgia’s sex offenders administration unit, said the area was for those who did not have a place to live that complies with the state’s strict probation conditions for sex offenders.
I have an idea, how about we just lock them up for good, no one else ever has to suffer, they get 3 meals and a bed and we all feel safer for our kids. They are one type of person snuff
“While having an offender located in a camp area is not ideal, the greater threat lies in homeless offenders that are not a specified location and eventually absconding supervision with their whereabouts unknown,” Mr Holt said.
Lawyer Sarah Geraghty from the Southern Center for Human Rights said authorities needed a better place to send sex offenders. One of the men in the camp is one of her clients.
“Requiring people to live like animals in the woods is both inhumane and a terrible idea for public safety,” Ms Geraghty said.
She said she could only find one appropriate homeless shelter for the convicted criminals and that it was often full.
Dozens of sex offenders are also reportedly living in a larger “tent city” in Florida.
—Agencies